The positions of the planets relative to the Earth and the Sun. The interior planets can never be far away from the Sun in the sky because they have narrow orbits inside the orbit of the Earth. Mercury can only come 28 degrees and Venus 47 degrees away from the Sun. The scale is wrong in this illustration, but we see that an superior planet in opposition to the Sun, is as close as possible to the Earth. An interior planet in interior conjunction is as close to the Earth as it can be, but we can only its dark side. During the transit of Venus on June 8, 2004 Venus is in interior conjunction. Illustration: Astronomy.no

During a transit of Venus the Earth moves through the penumbra cast by Venus. Not to scale. Illustration: Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo

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Major celestial events in Norway 2010-2015